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Sunday, June 12, 2011

Obama the Kenyan

Maybe Obama was born in Kenya after all. He certainly has the mind set of a marathon runner. He doesn't play for the short term and doesn't get rattled. During the campaign, his supporters seeing his poll numbers slip, wanted him to show more "fight". But he stayed the course and eventually won in a land slide.

There have been times in his presidency when I wanted to see him display the "fierce urgency of now." Especially with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But Obama moves according to his own time line and doesn't flinch. He keeps pressing his pace looking for an opportunity to make his move. And that's what I see now.

Washington is pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accede to its proposal to resume Israeli-Palestinian peace talks on the basis of U.S. President Barack Obama's May 19 speech.

An Israeli source who spoke recently with senior officials in Washington said the Americans were very frustrated with Netanyahu's behavior, feeling that he was impeding America's efforts to keep the Palestinians from unilaterally seeking UN recognition of a state in September.

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An Israeli source who maintains close ties with both senior U.S. officials and people close to Netanyahu said that Washington's frustration began with Netanyahu's trip to Washington last month, when he publicly fought with Obama and then refused in an address to Congress to endorse the president's outline for talks. The Americans were now speaking very harshly of Netanyahu, said the source.